North Carolina High School Students Built A Wall As A Senior ‘Prank’

Seniors at McDowell High School in Marion, N.C., recently participated in one of America’s oldest high school traditions: the senior prank. What’s supposed to be a fun, inclusive celebration of completing four grueling years of work took a turn for the worst fast. This school’s senior prank? Build a wall inspired by Donald Trump that left Latino students feeling very uncomfortable.

According to McDowell News, the students were allowed into the school on the evening of June 1 to work on their senior prank with teacher supervision. The teacher wasn’t entirely comfortable with the wall and took steps to make sure that a Trump logo wasn’t placed directly on it. That didn’t stop the students from sharing a photo on Instagram with the caption “We built the wall first.” The original post has since been deleted.

Since they couldn’t use a Trump logo on the actual wall, they placed a student wearing a Trump campaign t-shirt front and center.

“[The wall] hurts a lot of people’s feelings,” Marta Guardian, a first-generation Mexican-American and student at MHS, told WLOS about the senior prank. “They don’t really know what people go through to get where they are right now. And some people are privileged to have so much stuff, but some people don’t.”

“There was no offensive activity at the time. What became offensive or concerning was what took place on social media afterwards,” Oliver told WLOS. “So, it’s hard for the school to have control or to take action against something that happened on social media that was outside school hours and outside any school network.”

But the senior prank did get one nod when @students4trump posted the original photo.

“McDowell High School students get the award for the best #studentsfortrump senior prank. THEY BUILT A WALL!! We are #students4trump #trump2016 #trump #maga #studentsfortrump #makeamericagreatagain #trump #trumptrain”

Ummm…

“It’s really unfortunate when anyone uses social media in an immature way,” Brian Oliver, a member of the McDowell school system told WLOS. “Once you launch it, you have no control. Comments that are made after you post a photo can say anything they want, and you have no control over what that message becomes.”